Hempfield man sentenced after being accused of leaving obscene, racially charged voicemails for members of Congress

A Hempfield man was sentenced to two years of probation this week in connection with dozens of obscene and racially-charged voicemails police said he left for members of Congress.

Mark Eugene Ray, 64, pleaded guilty to ethnic intimidation and harassment. A second count of harassment was dismissed.

Judge Timothy Krieger ordered that Ray’s probation can be terminated after one year if he’s compliant. Ray cannot have any abusive contact with members of Congress.

“I was kind of pleased with what happened,” Ray told TribLive. “Not with the charges, which were kind of ridiculous. It was more of a political persecution. I’m glad they offered me a good plea bargain.”

Ray was charged in September 2022 by Westmoreland County detectives who were contacted by the U.S. Capitol Police Protective Services Bureau and given a phone number connected to Ray. That caller rang the U.S. Capitol switchboard 1,400 times since January 2020, according to court papers.

The caller requested to be connected to the offices of specific members of Congress and left voicemails for them containing racial, anti-Semitic, obscene and vulgar language, authorities said. Ray left 214 voicemails for 35 members of Congress, according to court papers.

He previously spent time in jail on two incidents in which authorities said he repeatedly called members of a Penn Township church.

Ray first was arrested in 2017 and was ordered to stop contacting the Living Word Congregational Church in Penn Township after police said he left threatening messages and directed racial slurs at members of the congregation and its pastor.

In the second case, filed in May 2019, authorities said Ray — while awaiting trial for the first set of charges — left four voicemails directed at the church’s pastor.

Ray said he reacted strongly when he saw the August 2022 raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

“When I saw what they were doing to our president and his family, I went a little overboard with my language,” he said.